Hunger Games: District 2
by RoleplayIka
Summary: Ever wonder what life is like in the Districts? Or maybe what Cato's life was like before the Games? Then read this ;)
1. Swords and Redheads

(So, for the record, I'm sure I'm going to have most of this in Cato's point of view, but I am still debating on switching him out with the OC for PoV so please stay with me XD Also, the plot starts just a month before the Hunger Games Tributes are picked and the setting is District 2)

Training, training, training. That was what most of my day consisted of. Of course it did. After all, my father is a living Tribute. Everyone around expects me to go into the Games and win. I even expect myself to do so as well. Hell, I trained enough for it. All my life, ever since I was old enough to wield the lightest blade, my father taught me how to fight and defend myself. That's just the way I was brought up. And now, I'm eighteen. It's my last year. If I don't get picked, everyone expects me to volunteer.

And I mean, maybe I do want to go in there and win. I know for sure if I do go in there I'll give it my hardest and pull through. After all, the winner gets money, fame, all the girls they want, and probably more. What else could I possibly want?

But, when I think of it. Being trapped for days, weeks, maybe even months, in a arena, it leave a knot in my stomach. Of course, I never show this. I wear the hard mask my father has beaten onto me. Any time I would show any kind of fear, even as a child, I was punished. Weaklings never win the Games. You may pretend to be weak, but if you are truly a Victor, you have some kind of evil inside you. Just like my father does. And just like I do. I may not be a Victor _yet_, but I will be.

Cato the Victor. Heh, has a nice ring to it.

Huffing I place my sword back on the rack that holds a few other weapons and walk out of my home. It's a big home, with plenty of rooms. This room my father gave me to train in. He even often watched me train in it. But today, he's gone, on business somewhere. And I have to go pick up his new sword.

Outside, the air's cool, just like it always is in our mountains. I walk from the Victor Village and into the town. Our town was originally known for mining, and still does really, but not as much as it used to do. Some of our people's jobs include Stonemasons, Concrete Finishers, Bricklayers, Brickmasons, Plasterers, and Blacksmiths. Though, these jobs don't even make up a tenth of our population.

That's because most of out populations are Peacemakers, Trainers, or Peacemakers in Training. Our Distrcit is the one that trains all the Peacekeepers that get sent to the other Districts.

But, today I'm not going to watch the Training like I do when I'm bored. I'm going to the Blacksmith that lives in our area of the District.

His home is small, just as most houses are in the south of the District. It's run down too. But of course, he doesn't make hardly any money, so that isn't much to be surprised about.

I knock on the door and wait. No answer. I give another knock and still there is no answer. Sighing, I push the door open. He was always hard of hearing. But, I don't find the Blacksmith. The sword is there on the old beat up couch though. So, I walk over and leave the money there, when I hear something that brings a grin to my lips.

Light and pretty humming, coming from the kitchen. Immidiently I replace the grin with my same mask that I always wear before I walk into the kitchen. I've seen her quite a few times before. She's about two years younger then me, so we aren't in the same grades, but I've seen her around the school, and at the Blacksmiths sometimes, helping her father. But right now, she's at the stove, cooking, humming to herself in a melodic tune that just makes me stop and listen for a moment. She doesn't seem to notice me. Probably can't hear me over the noise of the pans she moves around and the steam whistling on the stove.

So I move froward and slam my hand on the counter top, making her jump ad turn, wide eyed. I glare down at her, "Where's your father?"

She looks a little surprised, but manages a steady look, "He has to work late. Your sword is on the couch." Then she turns to go back to cooking, but I move in front of her.

"I need to play an order for a dagger. It has to be taken today so I can get it by the end of the week."

She gives a sigh and nods. Going over to the other side of the kitchen, she manages to rummage around in a drawer and find a sheet of paper and pencil. She write its down exactly what I tell her. A jagged blade made of black stone, so that the blood won't show, and a leather bound hilt, "I'll give it to him." Then she turns to finish her cooking.

I leave her be and watch her for a few moments. She always seemed to hold a grudge against me, though, I never understood why. Every other girl in the District loves me. But not her. Which is a shame, because with her fiery red hair and her piercing blue eyes, she's quite a looker.

I glance at the meal she's making. It's small. Very small. And I know that it's to feed her, her father, and her younger brother. I turn to walk out and on my way to the door I set a few extra coins on the couch.


	2. The Whipping

Step and swing. Bang! I hit another target. My father wanted my to test at the sword as soon as I got home, so that is what I'm doing. It's a rather good sword too. Nice balance, nice shine, and a blue hilt that has a jewel imbedded into it. Very beautiful and very useful. I can only hope they'll have something like it in the Games.

My father got home and we trained some more before it was time for dinner. There was geese and potatoes. The best food in the District. Of course, my father could afford it with his monthly large Victor pay. It always tasted good, but as I took a bight and can't help but feel a small pang of guilt, thinking about the Blacksmith's family, and about how little they had to eat. I could only hope that the daughter would fin the money and go get them something proper for dinner.

I finish what I have to eat, and then tell my father that I'm going for a run. My father agrees to this because he knows that my one weakness is running for long amounts of time, and won't go against me trying to strengthen that. So, I head out the door and run, for the first five minutes at least. But then I just walk through the town, nodding hellos, keeping my lips in a straight line, no expression really on my face.

There's a crack of a whip, but I don't look that way. It's in the square, where they always punish people. Nothing I could do about it anyway. They probably stole something or bad mouthed a Peacekeeper. Either way, they were getting punished and I was not going to be the one to step up. Until I hear a voice.

"Stop! Please!"

The Blacksmith's daughter. Why it she there? Not I can't help but make my way through the streets to see what was going on. The red headed girl was being held back by a couple of Peacekeeper's while a man, with graying red hair, was being whipped. I recognize him, but barely, as the Blacksmith himself. The girl continues to scream for then to stop, begging them, tears streaming down her face when they put another stripe across his back.

I don't really know what happened next. One minute I'm in the back of the small crowd, and the next I'm up where the whipping is taking place, holding the man's arm from bringing down the whip again. The Peacekeeper doing the whipping seems to recognize me, as the son of a Victor, and backs off, though hesitantly, looking back at the Head Peacekeeper, who has a hard look on his face that probably matches mine,"What is your reason for punishing this man?"

The crowd around us is silent and the girl takes the opportunity to slip from the Peacekeeper's gasp and ran forward, kneeling down next to her father, who is only half conscious.

The Head Peacekeeper speaks, his tone cold, "This man is under the crime of foraging."

Foraging. Along with hunting, it is a crime punishable by death, especially if you are outside of the District, which I can only hope he wasn't. I look to the red headed girl to confirm.

She looks at me and then looks at the Head Peacekeeper, her tone angry. If looks could kill, this man would dead, "He wasn't outside the fence! He was still inside the District!"

"You better watch your tone miss, or else-"

"Or else what?! You'll whip me just like you do every other starving person in the District?!"

The man glares at the girls out bursts and takes a few steps forward, snatching the whip from the lower Peacekeeper, and then moving forward to the girl. The girl stays there, kneeling in front of her father protectively. The back of her dress is ripped and she gets three good lashes. Surprisingly, she doesn't make a noise, though the pain, and anger, are both evident on her face. She takes two more lashes before the Peacekeeper finally give up, seeing he'll get no reaction from her and leans forward, whispering something to her. When he pulls back, she tries to spit in his face, but he pulls back quickly enough to dodge it.

The Peacekeepers all leave the area and slowly, so does the crowd. I walk over and the bloody marks on both o them make me wince. The girl stands though and makes an attempt to help her half out of it father rise.

"Here, let me help..."

She turns and glares at me, the look being more deadly then the one she gave to the Head Peacekeeper, "No."

She helps her father up and has to half drag him along the way. She glances back at hi and as they make their way slowly along, she pulls something from her pocket and throws them to the ground. The five extra coins that I placed on the couch.


	3. Outside the District

**(Just for the record, in case any of you have ever read any of my other stories, I normally don't write in present tense, so that is why this fanfic by be a little rough on the writing XD I'm just trying to match Suzanne Collins's style of writing. Also, for those of you who read this, I'm debating on whether or not the next chapter should be in Cato's PoV or Valentina's. What do you all think? Say it in a review.)**

Two days have passed, since I saw the red headed girl, or the Blacksmith. He hadn't been in his shop all of the times that I checked, so I suppose that he is still recovering at home. I guess it's the same with her. But now, I'm off to see them again. My father wants to make sure that his dagger is being made. I tried to tell him how hurt the Blacksmith was, but I just got chewed out for interfering with the punishment of the two.

When I knock on the door and walk into the home of the Blacksmith, I find the girl in the kitchen, applying some sort of medicine to the Blacksmith's cuts. Beside the two is a boy with shaggy red hair, sitting a stool, watching his sister. He can't be no more then ten or eleven years old. None of them notice me at first, but when the girl does, she looks up, glaring, "If you are here about your dagger, it's production is being delayed."

I lean against the door frame, raising an eyebrow at her hostility, "Just came to get an update for my father. I take it you haven't started making it yet?"

She stands up straight, "No, he hasn't, now would you-"

"Valentina, enough. Leave the boy be." The Blacksmith spoke with a wave of his hand.

Valentina turned to look at her father, her face still hard for a moment before it softens and she sighs. She continues to put the medicine on her father , letting him speak with me.

"I will get to work on it tomorrow. You'll have it by the end of the week." The old man states, nodding to me.

I nod back and give a nod to the younger boy, who smiles and nods, then looked at the red head I now know as Valentina, nodding. I get nothing in return but a hard stare. I turn, going out the door.

I hang around the town for a little bit, and not surprisingly, I see Valentina walk into the town as well, though, she wasn't heading into any of the shops, she was head to the very back of the village, toward the gate. Her father was known for going out of the gates, not to hunt, but to gather plants and such. I make a guess that since her father is not able to do so until he is healed, that she is doing it for for him.

She climbs under the gate and goes off. Now this is a opportunity that I just can't seem to pass up. Silently I follow after her, watching as she goes further in the brush, searching until she finds what she wants. There's a bush, filled with blueberries. So this is how they get their fruits on a Blacksmith's budget. In our District, fruits are expensive. There was no way they could afford them unless they did this.

A smirk forms on my lips as I soundless make my way to her, standing behind her, kneeling down to where she sat, speaking in her ear, "You could get killed for this."

She tenses, then stands quickly, turning to face me, "You again. No one would believe you."

"Oh really? I'm willing to bet with that little whipping you and your father took, you'd be the first one to point fingers at."

"I'd get home before you could get to the Peacekeepers."

"And the berries?"

She pauses, looking down at the sack she had been putting the berries in, thinking. It's like she's trying to calculate how badly her family needs them. Needs the food. She looks to the side, then back at me, "What do you want to keep quiet?"

I almost laugh, "I doubt your family has anything that I need, or want for that matter." I can tell this answer angers her but before she can respond I continue, "But, I do want some berries. I don't feel like going to the market, so how about you show me which kinds are good?"

This seems to confused her at first, but she doesn't argue. What ever gets her out of trouble, though it wasn't like I was going to tell on her anyway. I didn't want the berries either. Just wanted to be around her. I don't know why, but I do. So, as she finishes picking the berries for her family, I go to a different bush and pluck a red berry from it. Before a can put it in my mouth though, Valentina smacks my hand, making me drop it.

"What the hell? Why'd you do that?"

"If it's red, you're dead."

I blink in confusion and she sighs, going on to explain.

"It something my father told me to remember strange berries. If its red you're dead, if it's yellow you're mellow, if it's black put it back, and if its white try it. Of course that rule if for the strange berries you don't normally see in the markets. Berried, lie blue berries, we know are okay, so we can pick them." She said, then went back to picking berries.

I can't help but smile when she turns her back to me. Brave. Outspoken. Smart when it comes to survival. If I had my choice, and if she even gave me a second glance, this would be the girl I would marry when I got back from the Games. Hands down.

The Games. The drawing for names were in a little over a week from now. My father was expecting me to, or I wouldn't be welcomed in his house again. He wanted be to go. Wanted me to win. A lot of times I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go into the Games, but the thought of coming back a Victor always erased those doubts. I would come back a Victor and no one would ever tell me what to do again. Not even my damned father.

We picked berries silently the rest of the time and as soon as we were done, we headed back to the fence. There she crawled under it with ease, and so did I. Once we were on the right side again, she turned on me, 'You better not tell anyone about this. If my father gets whipped again because of you I'll-"

"Whoa, whoa. Relax, I won't tell anyone." I say, finding it funny she was more worried about her father getting whipped when she had been the one breaking the law. Of course, I knew that her father would most likely take the blame and the beating for her, so that was probably the reason she was saying this to me. She would rather her get hurt then her father. Again, her compassion for those she cared about made my heart go out to her even more. Drew me to her. Made me want to get to know her ore and more.

"You swear on your life?"

"I swear."

"On _what_?"

I chuckled, " I swear on my life." I finished, and my breath caught in my throat slightly when I saw a very subtle smile grace her red lips. I looked into her green eyes and was caught in them as I always am when she's not looking, when I can sneak a peak at those green emeralds and know I can't get that glare because she doesn't notice.

She nods to me and turns on her heel, "Good. Now have a fine day.' She walked off and I couldn't make that silly grin leave my face. She wouldn't notice until later, but in the waist of the dress she was wearing, was a wild flower I had picked outside the fence. It had reminded me of her, so I had put it in her dress for her to find later. Maybe she would know it was from him. Yeah, she would have to know. I flower wouldn't just get stuck there.

I ate the few berries I had picked and walked home, making my mind up that I would go and see/bother her tomorrow, whether she wanted him to or not.


End file.
